Rand Paul is still talking after almost 8 hours. One wonders how he has managed to not leave the floor for the Senate lavatory in all that time. It’s ok to dislike […]
Sequestration days
Welcome to March, the first day of which is the moment the government set to make itself look incompetent if it couldn’t manage to “fix” its finances. This is also called a […]
The perils of self rule
Either these elections are getting worse or i’m getting more cynical, or maybe both. Look, i can respect opinions other than my own so i can see a healthy republic that isn’t […]
A vote, but not for any candidate
Romney vs. Obama. This is the exact matchup I was hoping for a year ago when the Republicans were looking under rocks and tearing up logs to find someone, anyone who wasn’t […]
Conservatives are a frustrated lot
We Democrats aren’t very good at this campaigning stuff. But we don’t need to be. Because we don’t have Fox on our side. The conservatives are a frustrated lot. They are frustrated […]
Trashing libraries just a bit more
Critic Boyd Tonkin had a piece in last week’s Independent recounting the sad fate of his local library, Friern Barnet Library, in the hands of the enlightened council of the London Borough […]
A speech Obama should give

As President, I’d like to set the record straight about myself and my administration. We are intelligent people engaged in a search for solutions to the modern problems that face us. I […]
American Oracle and the dangers of American fanaticism

Reading David Blight’s American Oracle this weekend, I’ve noticed a subtle, cautionary note that keeps playing itself as an occasional undertone. It reminds me again why the study of history has something […]
Food fights exploit class, income splits
Food politics promises to displace diminished social wedge issues, carrying much the same weight, with big corporate money facing off against the health, welfare, and choices of the vast majority. Money, in fact, determines the quality of what we eat, in more ways than one.
Slogging 'Forward' toward campaign slogans
Finally, we know what Obama is pitching, sort of, thanks to his slogan, Forward, and slick new PR video. But who knows anything about Romney with his oily campaign slogan, “Believe in America”?” Couldn’t and didn’t and doesn’t Obama say the say thing?